JUNE 21, 1862:
The Illustrated London News critiques
American coverage of the war as being too lurid:
“The thunderclouds of
war had been nearing each other too rapidly to leave it in doubt whether an
explosion were at hand or not… As regards the slaughter—we say it without
disrespect—one knows not what to believe when the American journals take to
computation. Our readers will recollect the "awful carnage" which has
marked every action throughout the war—on paper. They were almost prepared to
find the total account something terrible. The returns appear to have at length
been made up, not from sensation paragraphs, but from the army rolls, and the
whole amount of lost, from Bull Bun to Banks's run, is 5791. Reading this, we
hardly like to believe that this last battle has cost the Federals more than
they have sacrificed during the year and a half of fighting; and, when we set
down the numbers said to be lost at 7000 killed and wounded—so speaks the
latest telegram—we do so subject to the revision of the bill by the Federal
General. The latter states that the losses on the Confederate side "must
have been" enormous, but we shall await General Johnson's account. Be the
figures large or small, the battle does not seem to bring the war any nearer a
termination, but, on the contrary, it shows that the Confederates are not only
very strong but very resolved…”
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